The parents of Olympic athletes spoke about the abuse their children suffered at the hands of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. More than 260 women and girls reported being abused by Nassar under the guise of medical treatment. (Image source: "CBS This Morning" YouTube screenshot)

Some of the parents of athletes who were victimized by disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar want answers as to how he was allowed to get away with sexual assault for nearly three decades.

And they want all those involved to be held accountable, some of the parents said during an interview Thursday on “CBS This Morning.”

“If all of us are really going to heal, the parents and the girls, we really need to know who enabled it. And that’s only going to happen from an independent investigation,” Lisa Lorincz said. “So Larry going away was just kind of like the first chapter in the book.”

Lisa Lorincz’s daughter, Kaylee Lorincz, 18, testified that Nassar assaulted her when she was 13.

What happened?

More than 260 women and girls reported being abused by Nassar under the guise of medical treatment for athletes with USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.

He recently received three prison terms.

How did the parents react when they found out about the abuse?

John Nichols, whose daughter Maggie was a member of the USA Gymnastics team, said while he had no problem believing his daughter when she told him what happened to her but he has struggled with some guilt since finding out.

“Well, for us, it was horrible because and for me, I’m a failure. You know, my job is to protect my baby girl. And I didn’t do it. And so that’s something that we’re gonna live with forever,” said Nichols, who is a doctor.

“You know, we had to turn our daughter over to the U.S. Gymnastics. We were told that … ‘We’ll take care of Maggie. Don’t worry about Maggie,'” Nichols continued. “When we traveled at meets we couldn’t go to the hotel. We couldn’t stay at the hotel. We could not be in any situation to help protect our daughter. We had to fully turn over trust to these people.”

Others had a harder time grappling with the idea that this kind of thing could happen.

“It was difficult for us … You know, we talked to our kids as they grew up and coming from a law enforcement background and perspective, nothing ever good happens after midnight,” said Doug Powell, whose daughter was a pole vaulter at Michigan State University. “You know, ‘Go home. Don’t do this. Don’t do this. Be conscious of what you’re doing.’ How do you guard from a doctor? How do you put that guard in your daughter’s mind? It’s saddening and sickening.”

How did they feel when one father tried to attack Nassar in the courtroom?

They agreed that they’ve felt the same anger Randall Margraves felt when he lunged at Nassar.

“If I thought that, for a second, that it would have done anything positive to … to rush him and choke him out,” Powell said. “What good’s that gonna do me? What good was that gonna do for Cassie?”

What’s next?

A group of senators is calling for a special congressional investigation into the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics, and how they may have played a part in enabling Nassar for decades, IndyStar reported.

Nichols said he wants to know who helped cover up the abuse.

” … there’s so much more to this that needs to be found out because each and every one of them are intertwined,” Nichols said.

The parents also believe if alerts about Nassar’s abuse had been taken seriously in the 1990s, things would have been very different for their children.

“When you look at this collection right here, our daughters would not have walked through those doors,” Kyle Keiser said.

What else?

The entire USA Gymnastics board of directors resigned last month at the demand of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

On Monday, a judge sentenced Nassar to 40 to 125 years in prison on three sexual assault charges in Eaton County, Michigan. In January, he received 40 to 175 years for seven sexual assault charges in Ingham County, Michigan, and in December, a judge handed down 60 years in prison for three federal child pornography charges.

On Friday, authorities transferred Nassar from a county facility to Milan Federal Correctional Institution in Michigan.

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